đ Up next
Netherlands
Sprint Weekend
FP12d 0h
Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane says Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are free to race each other wheel-to-wheel as long as they follow one instruction: âdo not touch each otherâ. Permane said: "I have to put my trust in them. We talk about it of course, before the race, and I say to them, 'Listen, you can race. Do not touch each other'. That's my one thing â do not touch each other. It's a nice problem to have⌠Honestly, when they go on track, they're driver A and driver B to me. I don't care which order they come in. Constructors' [championship] is everything for us."
Liam Lawson says he has not viewed his strong Racing Bulls form this season as putting the âghostsâ of his brief Red Bull spell last year to bed, and is focused on his current campaign. Lawson said: "Honestly, no, not really [that this season has put the 'ghosts' of my Red Bull spell to bed]. I'm very focused on where I'm at right now, making sure I have a good season and trying to obviously have a future in Formula 1. I had a tough season. But I learned a huge amount through it, and honestly, I've come out of that as a much stronger driver and person."
Sergio Perez says he had doubts about returning to Formula 1 after a year away, but feels his performances since joining Cadillac have proved to him that he is still among the best drivers on the grid. Sergio Perez said: "To be honest, I had doubts about coming back to the sport after my year out. But when I came back, I was delivering, and I was performing at a very high level. I proved to myself that I'm still one of the best out there. So that gave me a lot of satisfaction in coming back, regardless of how competitive the car is."
Nikola Tsolov says Red Bull have made him no promises about a move into Formula 1, amid speculation linking the Formula 2 championship leader and Red Bull junior with a promotion to Racing Bulls. Tsolov said: "They're obviously really happy with me, but there's nothing that has been talked about, nothing clear. It's just keep doing what you're doing, you're doing great, but there's not much more than that to be honest. But we haven't reached the point where there's anything more than that, we're just focusing on F2 right now."
McLaren boss Andrea Stella said it was "no surprise" that developing the team's rotating-flap rear wing has been a complicated and "delicate" project, after seeing how long Ferrari took to get its version ready to race. Stella said: "The project with the rotating flap is, I have to say, a complicated project. It was no surprise because when we saw Ferrari introducing the wing in the Bahrain test, and then testing it in China, it took a few more events to actually being in condition to race, and we knew it was going to be a complicated project... the most important tool, especially when you have this sort of complicated project, remains what you observe at the track."
Toto Wolff says Mercedes have a "final opportunity" to win at Zandvoort in the modern era when Formula 1 returns for the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend, with the circuit set to host its last F1 race on Sunday. Wolff said: "Zandvoort has been a unique challenge since its return. It is a difficult track to master, the fans create an incredible atmosphere, and it has become a race that the teams and drivers look forward to. We have come close but never won there in the modern era. This is our final opportunity to change that, and that's a challenge we would like to meet."
Mercedes technical director James Allison says the team is âslightly out of phaseâ with its Formula 1 rivals on upgrade timing after deliberately pushing the W17âs design later than usual. Allison said: "We're now slightly out of phase with some of our competitors. They have been introducing upgrades while we've been rebuilding our development pipeline. What we're seeing is that everyone is making gains at a broadly similar rate. That means the competitive picture can change very quickly. Our objective is simply to keep our nose in front and ensure that the next wave of upgrades restores the advantage we built at the start of the season."
Toto Wolff says it is âtoo early to sayâ whether Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli is the title favourite, despite his 50-point lead in the championship. Wolff said: "It's too early to say. I'm superstitious, even though the gap is 50 points. There are so many races to go, a DNF or two can just swing [the championship] massively, and we've not been great on reliability."
Gabriel Bortoleto says he is on a long-term contract with Audi and has no clause that would allow him to be removed, amid rumours linking Carlos Sainz with a seat at the team. Bortoleto said: "As far as I can say, because it's something that's confidential, but let's say there are no clauses. I have a long-term contract with Audi. I'll be with Audi next year, and not only next year, but the following years as well."
Alpine driver Franco Colapinto says F1 drivers and other athletes need to âspeak a bit louderâ and âput a limit onâ online abuse, as he urged people to understand the impact of what they post on social media. Colapinto said: "It's how society is nowadays. And that is something that, I think, we as athletes, need to speak a bit louder and put a limit on. As drivers, we need to help people understand how much their words can affect others. I think as human beings we need to be much more conscious of the effect that our words have."
Max Verstappen says he âjust wants to enjoyâ the Dutch Grand Prix with the fans at Zandvoort, as the circuit hosts its final Formula 1 race this weekend. Verstappen said: "It's my home Grand Prix, so for sure I'm going to enjoy it a lot. I mean, I just want to enjoy it with the fans."
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord says Kimi Antonelli and George Russell âwant to beat each otherâ but are keeping their relationship as team-mates a âhealthy rivalryâ, with both drivers focused on helping Mercedes. Lord said: "What has been particularly impressive is how they work together. We've all seen periods in Formula 1 where relationships between team mates have become much more tense. George and Kimi obviously want to beat each other, because that's the nature of the sport, but it's a healthy rivalry. There are no games being played and nothing being hidden."
Honda trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara said this weekendâs Dutch Grand Prix is an âimportant milestoneâ as Honda introduces its ânew specâ power unit for Aston Martin. Orihara said: "The Dutch Grand Prix is an important milestone for Honda as this is where we introduce our new spec power unit. Zandvoort is a Sprint weekend, which means we only have a single free practice session. This will bring an additional challenge to complete the evaluation of our new package in that limited running, but it's a test we're looking forward to."
Yuki Tsunoda is in discussions with Meyer Shank Racing over a potential IndyCar race seat for the 2027 season, Motorsport.com reports. The Japanese driver, who has been serving as Red Bull Racingâs test and reserve driver this year after losing his F1 seat, is understood to be targeting MSRâs Honda-powered #66 entry.
The FIA has confirmed Red Bull and McLarenâs appeal against the decision to rescind Pierre Gaslyâs two five-second Monaco Grand Prix pitlane speeding penalties will be heard by the International Court of Appeal on 25 August in Paris. Gaslyâs penalties were removed after Alpine successfully requested a review, with the stewards noting the pitlane length had been measured incorrectly, which promoted Gasly to third ahead of Isack Hadjar and Oscar Piastri. The hearing will be closed for confidentiality reasons, with the decision to be published afterwards.
Carlos Sainz is close to agreeing a new contract with Williams, with an announcement expected in the next few days and potentially before the Dutch Grand Prix weekend at Zandvoort, RacingNews365 reports. Sainz joined Williams on a two-year deal ahead of the 2025 season and has been in talks with team principal James Vowles over his future beyond 2026, with discussions now said to be in their final stages. RacingNews365 adds that Sainz is set for a significantly improved salary, although exact figures are not known.
Toto Wolff says his nine-year-old son Jack has âa target on his backâ in karting because he is the son of the Mercedes team principal and will need to prove his results are on merit. Wolff said: "For Jack, he has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that his parents know motor racing and we are well connected. The disadvantage is that he has a target on his back. Everybody wants to go quicker than Jack, and everybody wants to crash him off because he's also the youngest. Now, that's making him harder. He needs to be a better driver than everybody else. Only then can he justify that everything he does is on merit."
The FIA has said it will not act against F1âs rotating âMacarenaâ rear wings after asking Ferrari and Red Bull for more information following Max Verstappenâs crashes in Spielberg and Silverstone. Speaking to a small media group including Motorsport.com, FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis said the governing bodyâs focus was on ensuring the systems could not fail in an unsafe position. Tombazis said: âWe haven't specifically told them âno, you cannot race itâ, but they needed to do a bit more work,â with Red Bull reverting to a conventional rear wing in Belgium before running its rotating version again in Hungary.
Adrian Newey said Aston Martin delayed putting its AMR26 model into the wind tunnel for âtwo weeks or soâ to wait for its own facility to be commissioned, rather than begin a short initial programme in Brackley. Adrian Newey said: "The timeline really was that there wasn't a model ready to get going. At the same time, we made the decision, rightly or wrongly, to delay for two weeks or so until we had our own tunnel commissioned, rather than starting in Brackley for a very short period, only to move again. So that was the timeline behind it."
Guenther Steiner says he still does not understand what Gene Haas wants from Formula 1 with his team, after leaving the outfit as team principal at the start of 2024. Steiner said: "With Gene Haas, you'd need to have him here on your podcast to ask him what he wanted to do [with the team] because I still haven't understood. Being in a sport, for me being somewhere competitive, I want to be a winner."
Guenther Steiner says he has âno relationshipâ with Haas owner Gene Haas following his exit as team principal at the end of the 2023 season. Steiner said: "Oh, I mean most of the people, I've got a very good relationship. I would say not with Gene Haas. But it's not a bad [relationship], we just have no relationship - that's it. And I'm fine with that. We sorted our stuff out, and that's it. I move on. He can move on. I'm pretty happy to move on without him. And he's pretty happy without me."
Get the full feed, faster alerts, and the stories worth following on your phone.
